Showing results by author "Ruth Meyer" in All Categories

Echo Alkaev's safe and carefully structured world falls apart when her father leaves for the city and mysteriously disappears. Believing he is lost forever, Echo is shocked to find him half-frozen in the winter forest six months later, guarded by a strange talking wolf - the same creature who attacked her as a child. The wolf presents Echo with an ultimatum: if she lives with him for one year, he will ensure her father makes it home safely. But there is more to the wolf than Echo realizes.

Deep in the wood lives a witch queen and her eight tree siren daughters. For centuries, they have harvested souls to feed the heartless tree, using its power to grow their ever reaching kingdom of ash, birch, and oak. Owen Merrick lives at the edge of the forest, mapping the stars for the king in his father’s observatory. For years, he has resisted venturing over the garden wall, until one day he must enter the woods to find his missing sister. But one of the witch’s tree siren daughters, Seren, decides to save his life instead of end it.

Sixteen-year-old Talia was born to a life of certainty and luxury, destined to become empress of half the world. But when an ambitious rival seizes power, she and her mother are banished to a nowhere province on the far edge of the Northern Sea. It is here, in the drafty halls of the Ruen-Dahr, that Talia discovers family secrets, a melancholy boy with a troubling vision of her future, and a relic that holds the power of an ancient star. On these shores, the eerie melody of the sea is stronger than ever, revealing long-forgotten tales of the goddess Rahn.

It has always been Eda's dream to become empress, no matter the cost. Haunted by her ambition and selfishness, she's convinced that the only way to achieve her goal is to barter with the gods. But all requests come with a price and Eda bargains away the soul of her best friend in exchange for the crown. Years later, her hold on the empire begins to crumble and her best friend unexpectedly grows sick and dies. Gnawed by guilt and betrayal, Eda embarks on a harrowing journey to confront the very god who gave her the kingdom in the first place.

Grace Williams isn’t looking for complications because, really, isn’t life complicated enough? She’s a single mom with four children. She has unresolved issues with her ex-husband. Her sister nags at her about going to church. Her kids are not perfect. And neither is Grace. She has hang-ups about organized religion, she is overwhelmed by suppressed guilt and grief, she is judgmental, and she can’t control her hair.

Grace Neunaber has finally found happiness. After struggling for years as a single mother of four, she’s thrilled about her newfound faith and her marriage to a strong Christian man. But as David is added to their family of five, her enthusiasm is quickly dampened by her older children’s open hostility and resentment toward their new father. Each member of the Neunaber family will have to rely on their faith in God if their strained relationships are going to knit them closer together, instead of tear their family apart.

As a child, Benny Ribble bears the brunt of his parents’ anger. Never good enough, he nonetheless tries to please them and hear some words of praise. When he finds himself on the receiving end of a girl’s attention and affection, he thinks he’s finally escaped the abuse he’s suffered his whole life. Sadly, his marriage soon turns into another battlefield. Every time his wife, Alma, bursts his balloon of achievement with her put-downs, he sees himself once again failing to achieve his desire for approval.

With vivid memories of her very early life, Ruth Smith Meyer has spent seven decades processing what has made her feel different or unusual. Whether it was being born into a conservative Mennonite family, the differences in her physical composition, or the events of her life, they all contributed to the struggle and growth she experienced as she faced them one by one.

Ellie is a strong young woman faced with circumstances that are not her choice. When Ellie's older sister Regina dies at the birth of her third child, her parents request that Ellie break off her engagement to the man she loves and marry their son-in-law, John, so the children will stay in the family.